Slots(スロット, Surotto?), also called Slot, is an ability that appears in several games in the Final Fantasy series where various effects can happen when certain combinations are made. It is usually associated with the Gambler class. Slots resembles a slot machine, although unlike most real-life slot machines, in some games the player can control the reels making it a game of skill rather than a game of chance.

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Slot is Setzer's ability that consists of three spinning slot reels, which the player stops one by one. Custom Slot attacks are unblockable and based on Setzer's magic power. The Slot command may also be used by the optional characterGogo.

Slots is the second of Cait Sith's two Limit Breaks. The reels determine what various effects will occur, depending on the combination of the six symbols. Lining up three of the same symbol executes the best attacks, but is the hardest to achieve. Obtaining the Slots Limit Break unlocks the Slots achievement in the PC version re-release.

Tifa'sLimit Break system uses a series of slots to determine damage and success of each hit. Each time the reel hits "Yeah!" damage is doubled, but each time it hits "Miss" the attack does not connect. Stopping the reel on "Hit" allows the attack to connect, but does not increase its power. The player stacks successive levels of Tifa's Limit Break—ending in Final Heaven—using the reels.

The Battle Square also uses a slots system to decide handicaps, such as disabling certain types of Materia. The handicap grants the player a point bonus based on severity and the current round. Thus, while greater handicaps make the battles harder, the player will receive more points when they win.

Both Tifa's Limit Break slots and the Battle Square handicap slots can be controlled by the player, but Cait Sith's Slots Limit Break is more complicated and the reels are meant to be rigged against the player to reduce their chances of spinning the best combinations.

There is a trick to manipulate Cait Sith's Slots reels: pressing will stop the reels, and tapping it repeatedly slows the reels down. This allows the player to find out where in the pattern they are and what symbol is coming up next. It also becomes easy to memorize the reels.

The first reel in Cait Sith's slots always stops when the player presses the action button, however, the next two reels behave differently depending on whether the so-called "Evil Flag"[1] is activated or not. Without the Evil Flag, the second and third reels help the player get the same symbol as on the first reel by moving on for up to four spaces. With the Evil Flag on, the reels stop exactly where the player presses the button.

If the player matches the symbols on the first two reels, the third will prevent the player from getting a matching three by moving on to the next space. Thus, it is impossible to line up three symbols and access the best attacks under normal conditions. There is a trick to overcome this, however (see below).

The game decides whether to activate the Evil Flag or not depending on what the symbol is on the first reel and on the timer. Evil Flag is deactivated if the number of seconds the player has played is divisible by a certain number, and the number varies from symbol to symbol.

Crown and Star: Flag is always off.

BAR and Moogle: Flag is off if the time is divisible by two (50% chance)

Heart: Flag is off if the time is divisible by four (25% chance)

Cait Sith: Flag is off if the time is divisible by 64. (1.5625% chance)

To get the desired symbol on the first reel, the player must know its preceding symbol to know when to press the button. Once the first symbol is acquired, the second and third reels are easy to manipulate if the Evil Flag is deactivated. If the Evil Flag is activated, the player can trick it by first lining up two matching symbols, and for the final symbol, quickly hit the action button twice when it shows up. If done correctly, the third reel doesn't really stop, but the three symbols are lined up when the player confirms the action. The feat is most easily achieved while playing on an emulator and slowing down the game's speed.

Summons, Limit Breaks and leveling up are determined by the Digital Mind Wave reels. The reels keep on spinning as long as Zack has SP to expend, and the player can't directly influence the slots' outcome. The player can only boost their odds of certain combinations by equipping certain Materia. Certain status ailments and equipment prevent the reels from spinning.

Selphie'sLimit Break is Slots that selects a spell and the amount of times it will be cast using a process based on Selphie's level, Crisis Level and a random factor. Targets are selected at random. Slots do not use up stocked magic. If an undesirable spell is chosen, the player can "do over", and the process is repeated to select another spell. The player can do over infinitely, but the battle will continue even if the player has set the ATB Mode to "Wait" in the config menu.

As it is random whether the player ends up with good spell combinations or not, they can equip the Defend command to Selphie when fighting strong enemies that use only physical attacks, such as T-Rexaur and Wendigo. While in HP Critical they can put up the Defend command making Selphie immune to physical damage. The effect won't wear off until the next command is chosen, so on her next turn, Selphie is free to shuffle through the Slots for as long as is needed.

While the player can influence the Slots Level via Selphie's level and her Crisis Level, the next step, Slots Mod, is random.

Slots Mod

Chance

0

39/256 15.2%

1

120/256 47.9%

2

50/256 19.5%

3

40/256 15.6%

4

7/256 2.7%

$ SpellSet Value = Slots Mod * 12 + Slots Level $

The game has a list that determines which SpellSet is used depending on the SpellSet's value.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

00-09

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

10-19

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

2

20-29

2

2

3

4

9

9

9

10

10

11

30-39

11

12

12

13

13

14

0

0

1

1

40-49

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0

1

50-59

2

15

3

4

5

6

7

8

8

15

60-65

1

2

4

2

7

2

E.g., SpellSet# = 35 would get Set 14

After the set is selected, the game picks a spell from the set, which is what Selphie is able to cast. The numbers are maximum amount of casts; the actual amount of casts is anything between one and the maximum.

Wings appear on the enemies' backs and immediately dispatch them from the battlefield. When the game checks if Rapture was successful, it checks against enemies' immunity to the "eject" status, thus it does not work on all enemies and never on bosses. Grat, Vysage, Lefty, Righty, Cactuar, Tonberry, Esthar Soldier (Terminator), UFO?, PuPu are regular enemies immunes to this spell.

Destroys almost any enemy, including Omega Weapon; Ultimecia, the final boss can also be affected and will move onto the next battle stage when being hit by The End. However, the spell will fail on the undead. During battles with multiple phases (Biggs before Wedge shows up, X-ATM092's repairs, Ultimecia's final speech), it will only end one phase of the battle.

Further diving into the game code reveals two other spells specific to Selphie, Percent (a reduce-HP-to-1 move similar to Matra Magic), and Catastrophe (major damage to all enemies). These two spells were removed from Selphie's spell list in the final build of Final Fantasy VIII, but can be found via third-party data exploitation programs, although they just use Fire's spell animation.

Wakka uses reels as his Overdrive, and the player can control the outcomes exactly. The faster it's completed, the more damage the attack does. Wakka gains new reels as a random prize in blitzball tournaments and leagues. Each reel has a different ability. Wakka's Overdrives are unable to inflict critical hits.

The Lady Luckdressphere uses slots as one of its combat abilities. It can create most, if not all, of the negative status effects for the enemy, cause significant damage, but also has a potential to heavily damage, if not KO, the player. The reels are easy to abuse, as the player can pause the game while the reels run, and press right before they align in the right slot.

The Party Host's Pot Luck ability works similarly to the Slots skills from other Final Fantasy games, and is essentially the game's version of a gambling skill. Using Pot Luck takes three AP and will cause a random effect.

Tifa'sEX Burst, Final Heaven, uses the slots mechanic from Final Fantasy VII. To charge it to its maximum strength, the player must spin seven slot wheels with "Yeah!" "Miss" and "Hit". Landing more "Yeah!" on the reels powers up her EX Burst.

Slots is the ability of Cait Sith. The player removes the top card of their deck from the game, and if it is a Forward, the player can Break a Backup of their choice with a cost of 2 or less. Using Slots costs a Thunder CP, the discard of another Cait Sith card, and Dulling Cait Sith.

One of Setzer's cards can use his Joker's Death ability, while another can use Prismatic Flash. Joker's Death requires the discard of a Setzer card and Dulling Setzer, then the player selects a Forward and removes the top card of their deck from the game. If the card is not a Backup, the player Breaks the selected Forward, if it is a Backup, they Break Setzer. Prismatic Flash also requires the discard of a Setzer card and Dulling Setzer, and a payment of 3 Wind CP. It deals 7,000 damage to all the opponent's Forwards.